Under her Possession
by Dr. Moon
Summary: She started the war and he's prepared to win it. At any cost. Rating will go up
1. She Searches

**Under her Possession**

**Summary: **She started the war and he's prepared to win it. At any cost

**Rating: **M- for adult content and some language.

**Disclaimer:** Only the idea is mine.

_A/N:_ I've got to thank Brittany for witnessing my writing again. This is my first attempt at an M story, and I am sure there will be some flaws, but you've got to give a girl some credit, I'm delving into the world that few MI writers have gone before. Do not shoot me or this story will never be finished.

So it has begun.

-_Sydney-_

* * *

**She Searches**

She was staring at him again, her dark blue eyes fixed on his face. Stephen knew that she was aware that it drove him completely insane. A piece of his mind broke off and fell into oblivion every time she looked at him that way, she wanted something, and was afraid what the request would be. Swallowing deeply, he reached out and grabbed the coffee pot, realizing as soon as he did that he shouldn't have. Reaching across her to grab the handle was a mistake. Natalie eyes moved from his face to his arm, it was only several inches away from her chest. A thoughtful smirk played across her face.

He could get the coffee, pore some in his mug and politely put it back. Or he could snatch his arm back and drop it to its rightful position next to his side. The fact that he was battling sexual desires so early in the morning was not something he wanted to put up with. Natalie wasn't helping any, making it impossible to poor his coffee without the slightest shake of his hands as he did it.

Natalie took the coffee pot from him and poured herself a cup, her hands steady as she did it. She moved gracefully away from the counter and sat at the table, grabbing the newspaper Frank had left. Stephen wondered how she could be so awake when all he wanted to do was quit his job and sleep the day away. Something, he was sure, that with practice would become easier.

Talking was not an option this early in the morning, instead, he sat across from her and took a drink of his black coffee, aware that Natalie was not reading the newspaper like she was leading on, but staring at him… again. It was the forth time this morning, it was like she had this secret she was keeping from him, but just needed him to ask about. Well, he wouldn't, he refused to.

"We're in the news, once again," Natalie declared, setting down the newspaper.

Stephen looked at her, still refusing to talk, he wasn't sure if he could move his lips to form words. Natalie took a drink of her coffee and spoke again, as if knowing that this conversation was going to be solely one-sided. "Well, you are in the newspaper. The rest of us are just footnotes, and I don't get it," She said almost in a tone of argument, "because we do half of the work and you get all of the credit."

He shrugged and grabbed the paper. There was a pure hate when it came to the press, lately he had only wished to strangle any human who attempted to make a living off of writing about the death of epidemic victims. Since Central America he had made it his sole duty to make sure that Eva kept even the most moral of reporters out of his way.

In fact, reading the newspaper made him mad enough to speak, "They spelled my name wrong."

They had, spelling Stephen with a 'v' instead of the 'ph.' He despised the mistake, it made him cringe. Taking another drink of his coffee he handed the newspaper back to Natalie, making sure that no part of him touched her, the knowledge that fighting sexual desires in the morning was still not on the top of his favorites list.

Natalie took the paper and ignored his statement. It was all he was going to say for the next couple of hours. She wouldn't be able to get anything out of him and wouldn't try.

"I'll have Eva file a complaint with the local papers and maybe they will get that problem fixed," Natalie stood up and walked past him, patting him on the shoulder. She was out of the room before he realized that he had just been touched.

Natalie, she was the second most reason why he hated being divorced. How was he suppose to know if her stares and the constant pats on the shoulder weren't a subliminal message she was sending out to him. It was too early, and Stephen was fully aware that he was delving to deeply into this. But her staring had become more frequent in the recent months, and the complete moment of hope seconds after he felt her gaze was something that he had come to terms with.

And knowing that something like this would happen every morning in the NIH break room for the rest of his career, made him figure that he needed to find somebody, and find somebody fast or he just might lose his mind.

Taking another drink of his coffee, Stephen let himself think that in just an our or two that he would be a full functioning adult, and that he wouldn't be plagued by the thoughts that haunted him when he was his weakest:

The morning.

* * *

"They spelled his name wrong?" Eva declared, setting down the newspaper Natalie had handed her, "How did he take it?" 

Natalie shrugged and sat down. She had become use to Stephen's odd behavior in the morning. It was something that she could look foreword to. If a case wasn't involved in an early morning wake-up call, Stephen was completely useless. He would sit and made the perfect dummy to argue against. The fact that he had even noticed that his name was spelled wrong was a miracle.

"The man's not human," Eva continued.

If they were going to discuss Stephen's humanity, Natalie would need a couple of minutes to come up with valuable information. It had been a long time since she had found evidence against him. She swore that a female could stand completely naked in front of the man and he would even budge. In fact, she was sure that he would squeeze his eyes shut and wait until the woman left. Not many men did that, not many humans did that.

"Am I going to have to go on another expedition?" She asked, looking at Eva. The last time she had searched through Stephen's office she had uncovered nothing but a medical dictionary and random patient charts lying everywhere.

"Of course you are," Eva said leaning back in her chair. Her desk was extremely cluttered that day, making Natalie fight down the urge to order her to clean it. "We all know that your detective skills are better even than Frank's. He's just good for swabbing, and the last time we had him swab Stephen's office we found out that the environment was too sterile for even simple bacteria to grow."

Natalie had to admit that another search of Stephen's office would not be harmful, she had always managed to get out of trouble when being caught. He liked to hear her say that she was just tiding up, it gave him a macho boast.

"If I do this, what will my reward be?"

Eva thought for a second, Natalie had gone through Stephen's office so many time and had been paid off with money, PTO days, and food tickets, there was nothing new to repay her with, "The knowledge that you got away with it again. Maybe this time you will find something interesting to blackmail him with. We all know how much you have been hoping to do that these last few months."  
Blackmailing Stephen would be fun, she could make him do things that he would never do without that certain motivation. "Alright, I'll do it, but you've got to have Frank and Miles keep him busy for the next thirty minutes. If he catches me, I'll make sure you don't have a day off for the next year, do you hear me?"

"It's still the morning, Natalie, we don't need a distraction until he really wakes up. If you hurry you can get in and out of there without a problem."

The truth rang in her statement. Rolling her eyes, Natalie stood up and walked out of Eva's office, not even bothering to tell her friend that she would see her later. The trip to Stephen's office was faster than she thought it would be, two steps.

She tried to door, and realized that it was locked. Shaking her head, she reached into her front pocket and pulled out a bobby pin that she kept just in case. With the well practiced stick, jab, and turn, she managed to unlock the door. Natalie knew that if he ever changed his lock then she would be screwed, there was a certain way she had to fit the bobby pin in for it to unlock, a new lock would mean a new routine, one that would take her hours to learn.

Stephen office was cleaner than usual. She knew by just looking around that she wouldn't find anything in the drawers of his desk or even on his bookshelf. Anything that she hoped to find would be in the trash, in the pockets of his leather jacket, or on his computer.

The trash was clean, amazingly, his pockets were clear, and she soon found herself sitting behind the computer. Throwing glances at the office door just in case he decided to walk through in any moment. All she would have to do is claim that her computer had crashed again and he wouldn't argue, but she didn't particularly like lying to him when he was vulnerable.

This was the side of her that no one usually saw; the evil, conniving Natalie, who sought out pleasure in finding things to make Stephen squirm. It was a new hobby, actually, one she had picked up a couple months after his divorce was finalized. She couldn't picture the consequences of what might have happened if she started doing this before that.

Natalie was the queen of observation, she had watched Stephen sign onto his computer a million of times. She knew that he had never worried about her memorizing his password, or his email account, or how to mess with his computer until it spat useful information out at her. It only did it for her, she had come to learn; the computer would lock up on Miles, die completely on Frank, and never really let Eva onto Stephen's name.

What could she say, she had a way with electronics.

Using her mediocre typing skills, Natalie pecked her way through the laborious typing to get herself onto Stephen's name and email. She had learned over the last half of year, that he never saved anything to his documents folder. It was almost as if he knew that she would regularly check, but he always seemed to have interesting things in his email inbox.

She checked the older emails, his recent social life was nothing to be interested in. Her eyes searched the long list, disregarding the spam and emails that she, Frank, Miles, and Eva had sent him. It became boring, her eyes began to hurt, and Natalie started to ask herself just how long it would be until Stephen walked into his office finally feeling awake.

Just when she was thinking of giving up, Natalie's eyes past over something interesting. Granted, it was a two year old email and probably obsolete since it was from Lisa. She clicked on it and began reading, her eyes bulging and jaw dropping after each word. It didn't take very long for her to come to the conclusion that once upon a time, not so very long ago, Stephen was a very erotic man.

Almost absent mindedly, Natalie moved the mouse to press on the print button.

Three emails later and she had enough ammunition to start a war with her drowsy boss. If this didn't wake him up then nothing in the world could. She wasn't sure if she could ever look at him in the same way ever again.

In her haste to leave his office, Natalie left his computer on.

* * *

To Be continued 


	2. She Plans

It's amazing how I thought this story up. I was sitting at the computer, talking to Brittany, and all I wanted to do was write a story chalk full of Natalie and Stephen flirting. It hasn't reach that part quite yet, but it will soon.

_-Sydney-_

Disclaimer: Is not My show

* * *

**She Plans.**

He was fully, perfectly, and utterly awake. The NIH loomed around him like a giant time bomb waiting to explode. It was how Stephen felt everyday after the caffeine started to kick in. After the sixth year of working in the building he had felt his senses starting to fail. A certain wall would lose its usually vibrant shade of gray to a more dull tone of -well- gray. It meant that the job had grown a little too much on him, engulfing his life, damning him to eternity of medical emergencies and monotonous mornings.

It was sad, he understood, that he could see the problem but did absolutely nothing to fix it. What made it worse was how many times the other members of his team shared the same demoralizing experience and pretended that it wasn't affecting them either. It was a giant loop of social suicide and they had all decided to join in on the fun.

Stephen decided that if he had anymore coffee that he might just realize how much his life had slipped away. Brewing another pot was out of the question, he didn't want to spend his day thinking of what might have been. What he needed to do was find some sort of case to send the team out on to keep his mind off of the world, and Natalie, who had just passed him, a grin spreading across her face when she looked at him.

It was not a normal grin, he could tell, just by the way her eyes moved from his face to the floor. Before he could figure out just what she was grinning about, Natalie was gone, turning a corner just out of his reach. Stephen would have to ask her about it later when he built up the nerve. He had come to the conclusion, that in the last few months, he had come to worry about her mood shifts.

His phone had been dead all morning, that was a good thing due to his inability to register any thought. If someone important had called him he would have answered with a grunt and hung up on them, another stone tossed into the pool of social loss.

"Miles," he heard himself saying, subconsciously trying to figure out why he had called out the younger man's name. Maybe it was because he needed the papers on their last case, or because Miles and Natalie usually went over clinical studies in the morning, he could always ask Miles why Natalie was so happy.

Closing the library door with a small click, Miles looked at him and stood up straight, "Dr. Connor, I-"

Stephen's mind muted the rest of Miles' words. The younger doctor had yet to feel comfortable calling him by his first name, or even by his last name alone. The others had already picked up on calling him by Stephen or Connor, and he wondered just how long it would take for Miles to follow suite. It really didn't matter, Stephen had slightly better things to do at that moment other then contemplating what people should call him.

"Never mind," Stephen walked past him and down the hall, he wanted to get to his office and write several things down. If he was lucky no one would bother him until lunch, and hopefully not even then. It didn't strike him as odd that his door was unlocked when he had locked it that morning. He had had that problem lately, the door being unlocked when it wasn't suppose to be. Stephen had just figured that the door was getting old and that he would have to replace the lock soon. Why should he worry, he was the only one with a key.

He did, however, find it extremely strange that his computer was on, when he knew for a fact it had been off that morning; he had made sure of it because it its old age, the computer had a tendency to spontaneously break down if left on too long.

It was still too early to question things too deeply. Stephen plopped down in the seat behind his computer and tried to figure out which thing to work on first.

If he had a choice it would be his life, it needed major redecorating. He would have to find time during that day to call Jack, talk to him about the weekend. Pushing away from the computer, Stephen let his chair roll several feet across the room. Leaning his chin against his knuckles, he lost himself in thought.

* * *

Natalie couldn't show Eva the emails. In a sense, it was too personal for her to share with anyone, let alone read herself. She found it slightly amusing that she now had four small pieces of Stephen's very distant sex life and he had no idea what-so-ever.

If used the right way they could be weapons to force him back into the world of the living again or simply to make him do all of her work for a couple of weeks. Either would be good, she would just have to figure out which one she would appreciate more. If she pushed him back into people's social graces it would be likely that she would have to do his work, leaving herself to take his place in the land-of-the-unsocial; and if she made him do her work he would slip further into his cocoon, which would leave her with absolutely nothing to do for two weeks.

Manipulating him would be harder then she thought.

Unless…

A smug look took over her face, giving it a frightening glow. She knew what she could do, and she could do it without being caught. In a metaphor to speak; she would be a spider and he would be a fly caught in her web.

The emails, she had come to realize, were explicit. It surprised her that Lisa had the mental capability to use the words that she had. Natalie had never been unkind to the woman in their previous years of knowing each other, in fact, they had considered each other under the term of friendly acquaintances; but that didn't mean that Natalie didn't feel slightly superior when it came to knowledge of life.

"Did you find anything good?" Eva popped up in her office doorway, leaning on the posts.

Natalie managed to hide her shock and placed a large book over the pile of papers she had printed off in Stephen's office. Looked up at Eva, she shook her head, "He's clean this time, maybe next week."

She was sure that Eva would see past her lie, it was what she was trained to do, wasn't it? But the younger woman just cursed under her breath and entered Natalie's office, "Are you sure, why don't you check again tomorrow?"

Thankful that she was safe from further interrogation, Natalie nodded somewhat thoughtfully, "I could, but I don't think anything will pop up in just twenty-four hours. It would take weeks for him to leave anything interesting lying around."

What she found absolutely amazing and hilarious about this situation was that she had everything that the two woman had wanted to hold against Stephen only inches in front of her, and she was keeping in from Eva. It would be better, Natalie told herself, if only one of them knew, it would make the blackmail more credible, it would give her more freedom to do what she pleased.

The thoughts that ran through Natalie's head would have put Lisa's to shame.

"Nothing," Eva plopped down in the chair across from Natalie's desk heavily.

"What can I say?" Natalie asked, folding her hands together and resting them over the book that rested on the emails for safe measures, "He's an outstanding citizen. His only crime is lacking a life."

Eva didn't looked entertained, she frowned and looked at the wall, a grudged looked making her face contort into something Natalie never wanted to see again. "This job is becoming more boring by the day," she declared, looking at Natalie again, "there is nothing here to keep my attention."

There is plenty here for me, Natalie thought happily, not allowing her smile to show. Eva would take back her words soon enough. The knowledge that what Natalie was planning to do was immoral, nearly illegal, and could get her fired if Stephen felt the urge to take it that far only made her want to do it more. It would be a change from her usual routine .

"What are you doing tonight?" Eva asked it with the purest intent to find something to make her life slightly more entertaining.

Natalie looked down at the book, her eyes focusing on the white of the paper sticking out from underneath it. She hadn't gotten through all of the emails, she had to admit that several times she had to stop and breath or gag. But she had to desire to read it all thoroughly and figure out just how she would use it to make Stephen do things on a whim, "I'm going to read."

"Read?" Eva asked, sounding slightly confused. "The whole night?"

Her nod was big, "I'm falling behind."

"You're just as bad as Stephen," Eva stood up and turned her back to Natalie, walking towards the door, "pretty soon you'll be a wondering morning zombie who lives off of coffee. Don't tell me I never warned you."

Shaking her head, Natalie watched her walk out of the office. A wave of relief washed over her, at least it wasn't Frank who had barged into her office, she might have found it necessary not to lie to him, he always had a way of making her feel bad about things she normally didn't.

Almost, as if her thoughts had decided to plague her, Frank walked into her office, looked down the hall at Eva, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." It came out too quick, strained, making her sound like a guilty child attempting to lie to their parents. Biting the inside of her cheek, Natalie scooped up the book and the printouts and shoved them into her drawer, sure that the action had only brought more attention to the areas she was trying to hide.

Frank had the urge to declare that everyone was just too jumpy that day, but he didn't, turning around he shook his head and left her office, deciding to come back when she would be in the mood to talk, not hide things.

* * *

"Are you capable of speech?" Natalie's voice was a welcome change from the constant click of the keys on Stephen's keyboard.

Looking up from his work, Stephen watched her for a minute, the grin had left her face in the hours since he had seen it, but it was still in her eyes as she looked at him. It wasn't like him to inquire about things that made her happy, he knew he had nothing to be worried about, but it was almost as if the eagerness he saw was not directed at him, but because of him.

"I've never wanted to talk more in my life than I want to now," He motioned for her to sit down with a wave of his hand.

She responded by taking a step into his office, looking around to see that everything was the same as it was that morning. "Lunch is in a few minutes, the others wanted to know if you would like to join us to a trip down the road. I hear the McDonalds at the end of the street is less greasy than the others occupying the city."

That grin was still there, Stephen looked back at the computer to ease his mind. The day hadn't started out good and it seemed to be steadily getting worse, he wasn't sure that a visit to a fast food restaurant would help matters. "I'll just stay here."

He saw her nod out of the corner of his eyes and start to walk out of the room. "Natalie," he started, she stopped at the door and turned to look at him. "Were you in my office this morning?"

The corners of her lips moved up slowly, and her eyes widened in an all too friendly look. Clasping her hands in front of her stomach, Natalie gazed at him for a minute before allowing that damned grin to appear again, "Of course not, Stephen, you're door was locked."

"But it wasn-"

It didn't matter what he was about to say, she had already turned and walked away. Stephen looked at his computer then at her retreating figure and realized that he might not be the only one who had access to his office.

* * *

To Be Continued 


	3. She Strikes

Disclaimer: The show is not mine, neither are the characters, I just borrow them.

**

* * *

She Strikes.**

A few days had passed by slowly before Stephen realized that there was definitely something going on. Subtle clues; feeling as if he was being watched, his office door unlocked more than it usually was, and the growing look of satisfaction on Natalie's face every time she caught him looking at her. No one else but himself seemed trouble, they went about their business as if nothing was going on. It was possible that nothing was, but he still had that _feeling_.

He wasn't at all surprised to find his office door unlocked on that Monday morning as he came into work. Maybe it was just the morning drowsiness he had fallen into in the last few months or just the fact that he had gotten use to occurrences like it that made him refuse to ask himself if he should be worried. The light wasn't on, but there was a temperature difference between his office and the hall.

A window was open.

He never left a window open, in fact, he never even left the blinds up. Slipping out of his leather jacket, Stephen woke up a little more and looked around. His computer monitor was on, shining a light over his desk. He remembered turning the machine off the night before, someone had been in his office… again, and it couldn't have been too long ago if the screen saver hadn't switched on yet.

It didn't take long for Stephen to realize that his computer was the least of his worries. On his desk sat a thin pile of papers, papers he had never put there. Rubbing his eyes, Stephen flipped on his office lights and walked over to his desk, plopping down in the seat. He would need coffee again, Stephen reminded himself, when he grabbed the papers up into his hand and read them.

Two minutes later he was frantically flipping through the stack a feeling of dread washing over him. Who the hell could have possibly gotten a hold of these? And then it hit him; her grins, looks of satisfaction, the unlocked office door, and the reason why his computer was always on.

Stephen folded the thin stack once then twice before shoving them in his pocket, he wasn't groggy anymore, he was angry and ready for confrontation. He stood too fast for the chairs sake and it rolled across the floor as he stood up.

Ten seconds later he left a very bewildered Eva wondering what his problem was.

* * *

Natalie looked through her microscope, the first phase of her trap had been set up and she was only waiting until the moment where she could set down another. The certain strain of ecoli she was looking at had done anything but capture her attention that morning; but the loud slam as one of the lab doors was flung open made her jump and look up quickly.

It was Eva, and she didn't look too certain about things, "Connor's pissed."

If she possessed any wish to die, Natalie would have told Eva why, but she dared not; instead, she sat straighter in her chair and flashed a brilliant smile, "What's new?"

The color in Eva's face drained as she cleared her throat and looked away, a look of embarrassment flickering in her eyes. Natalie was mildly confused until she felt someone very close behind her, before she could turn, two hands came down next to hers on the table. "I don't know, you tell me." Stephen's voice was a low growl, heavy with anger that was rooted into something much deeper than Natalie's request to know when Stephen wasn't angry.

_"_I-I'll go," Eva managed, her pointing gesture to the door behind her was soon followed by her eager want to fulfill the promise she had just made. Not even a second later, Natalie found herself alone with Stephen.

Turning in her chair slowly, Natalie came face to face with her target. His eyes were squinted as if he hoped his glare would drill a hole through her head. A dangerous smile, filled with all the necessary qualities to make him look insane, was on his face, it quickly disappeared to a more appropriate clenched jaw. Stephen didn't move his arms, and Natalie found herself momentarily trapped between him and the table. It was very safe to say that he had already been in his office.

"You," He hissed, unable to continued until his anger subsided slightly and he could find appropriate words.

Natalie gave a small nod, "Yes?"

"You," Stephen repeated, his glare deepening, "You were in my office this morning."

The corners of her mouth turned up in a devilish smile before she could stop it from happening. Meeting his glare head on with a satisfactory air, Natalie let her smile grow bigger, "Yes, I was."

Stephen's hands clamped down on the table, sensing her desire to get out of the cage he had made, with a swift move of his knee, he watched her gasp as the back of her chair pressed forcefully to the table's edge , "And why were you in my office?"

Natalie fumbled with words before she spoke again, "I was dropping off papers."

There was a silent pause as he went over what she said, wondering if he should just slaughter her now or wait until she told him why he had put such _private_ papers on his desk, or how she had gotten a hold of them in the first place. Instead, he was surprised when she pulled the wad of papers from his pocket and held them up for him to see, "What are these?"

"Give them back," He warned, reaching for them.

She kicked the leg of the table quickly and sent her chair, herself included, through the opening that Stephen's movement had made. It didn't take him long to follow her. Stephen grabbed the back of the chair and Natalie slid out of it, standing up to face him, "What? Do you not want me to read them?"

"Natalie," He growled, "this is not funny."

"Then why am I laughing?"

Stephen grabbed the papers and tried to pry them from her hands, Natalie held on tight, pulling back. "Let go," He demanded.

"Why, as long as I have these you can not possibly hurt me," Natalie pulled back and managed to gain a better grip.

"I'm sure you have copies," He tugged harder and grunted when she stumbled into him.

Another smile made its way to her face, "How observant of you, but I want these." She dug her nails into his hand and a second later was rewarded with the prize she wanted, complete control over the email printouts. Taking a step away, Natalie tilted her head, Stephen looked in a state of loss; he was probably contemplating how the Natalie he knew could possibly be doing this to him. "Now, I haven't really done this before," she started, hoping to put him at ease, it didn't work, "I suppose I tell you to do something and you do it, knowing that if you don't I'll post these around the NIH," She waved the papers for emphasis. "But," She held up a finger, "I would like you to know that this is not at all personal, I didn't wake up one day hoping that I could use old emails from Lisa to exploit you, it was purely accidental."

Stephen didn't believe her, and he let it show in the way that he glared at her, "So what did you do, wake up one day and decide that you would break into my office… for no reason?"

"Well, no," She admitted, sitting back down and crossing her legs, "Breaking into your office for no reason was Eva's idea, I was only the middleman. Take a seat."

He about said no but saw that she was still holding on tightly to the emails and decided that he better, "So this is Eva's idea."

Natalie shook her head, "Not at all. She wanted me to find something in your office to prove that you were human, so I went in knowing that I would have to let her down." She enjoyed this immensely, "finding these emails was… reimbursement."

"Reimbursement?" The longer he sat and listened to her the more he asked himself where the real Natalie was, the one who didn't plot against him.

"Every single time Eva made me go through your office I found nothing, Stephen, nothing that could possibly prove your humanity. I think this was a payment for all of my hard work." She flipped the folded papers open and smirked, "I learned a lot about your _humanity."_

The embarrassment of his situation began to plague him. Natalie, the very person he had developed feelings for, had not only succeeded to find a way to blackmail him but had also found the more 'strange' objects of his finished marriage with Lisa.

"What do you want me to do?" He rubbed his face and hoped that the verdict was light.

Sliding the papers into her lab coat pocket, Natalie stood up and looked around, "Well, you did give me a lot of work to do today, and I could use some help."

"Is that it?" He tried not to sound too hopeful.

She shook her head, "Not even close. I'm sure I'll have a few things for you to do here-and-there." Natalie saw the tortured look on his face, she let her more compassionate side take over and squeezed his shoulder softly, "Don't worry, I won't blackmail you forever."

"You won't?"

"Of course not," She rolled her chair back to its place in front of the table and sat, looking into her microscope to finish what was left of the culture, she continued, "It stops as soon as you figure out why I decided to start in the first place."

Stephen stared at the back of her head and groaned inwardly.

He was doomed.

* * *

to be continued 


	4. He Fears

**Author's Note:** Such a long wait! I know! Sorry, I had writer's block in this story. Well, here you go!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Medical Investigation.

* * *

**He fears.**

There was a week of _silence_ as Frank had dubbed it, where Natalie and Stephen seemed to not argue. To their friend, it was a highly odd week, because he had become accustom to their daily struggle of differences over procedures that often led to the two apologizing to one another over coffee in the break room, whichever state that break room happened to be in. In this _silent_ week, Frank had noticed almost instantly that Natalie had won a deeply ingrained argument and Stephen was sulking about the NIH doing his best to not look depressed.

The question was, Frank often asked himself this, what supreme argument could make the two stop arguing?

* * *

"Hungry?" Natalie asked Stephen while standing in his office doorway, there was no way to tell if she was smiling or not because Stephen refused to look at her. 

"No," He mumbled in a way only a defeated man could.

"Of course you are," She prompted, "come on, lunch in the cafeteria. I'll pay."

Grumbling, Stephen saw no need to tell her no again and stood. Giving her a second long glare before walking past her while leaving his office, he spoke, "Have any _jobs_ you need me to perform today. Blood work? Reports? Clinic duty?"

"No," She said lightly, following him, "just lunch." She patted his shoulder and he cringed, hating himself for the sole fact that he still enjoyed her touch, even if she was blackmailing him.

In fact, Natalie was actually a very kind black mailer. She hadn't asked him to do anything remotely embarrassing, except get her coffee during a conference once. That had caused several questioningly looks from the rest of the staff and confused questions from Frank. He had not once had to act like a barn animal, or trot around in pink, or beg her to be kinder to him in this endeavor.

If he counted all the times she pulled her blackmail rank on him, it would only reach five. Five in the last week, but it had still broken him. The first was to help with the blood work, the second was to get her the coffee, the third was to stop avoiding her, the fourth was to apologize to Miles, and the fifth was to eat lunch with her in the cafeteria.

She still stared at him in the mornings, as he drank his coffee and reveled in not speaking. Her dark blue eyes still rattled him, more so now that he asked himself what she was thinking… was she thinking about the emails? If she was, what about the emails was she thinking about? He had choked on his coffee often in the last week.

"Relax," She said softly, and Stephen wondered if he would count every small request she made as blackmail? No, how could he, right now she was simply being the Natalie he knew before the plotting one had set over.

"I can't relax," he muttered venomously.

"Yes you can," she prompted, "just drop your shoulders and breathe. It's simple." Natalie opened the cafeteria doors and let him walk in first. They were met by the sounds of fifteen eating doctors, none of which paid them any attention. "No one knows about your—situation, Stephen, and they won't unless you keep treating me like I'm radiating poison."

He smiled a wide, fake smile and she scoffed, prodding him with her elbow. "I was thinking we could discuss the terms," she whispered.

"I think you've made them clear," He said without looking at her.

As they grabbed their food, Natalie let him lead her to a table and sat, looking at him in a dull manner. "No, I told you that I was blackmailing you, but we didn't discuss the terms."

"Okay, what are the terms then?" He took a bite of his food and refused to look at her. This was her punishment for doing what she was doing to him. He would ignore her at all moments possible; it seemed that it was working because she had still done nothing horrible to him.

"Like I told you, I'm new at this," she moved in her seat and shot a glance to the people just a few tables to their left. "If you could help me a little."

"Help you!?" Stephen choked on the tuna sandwich and quickly took a drink, "Why the hell would I help you blackmail me?" he hissed the words but they were still loud.

"Shhh!" Natalie shot the same people another look, "don't want people hearing you, now do you?"

Actually, she had a point.

Stephen leaned in and looked at her, "There is no way I will help you."

There was that evil grin, "I could always make you."

"You are a…"

"Hey!" Miles called, and the two pulled away from each other, as they had been sitting close. He sat down beside them and Natalie shot Stephen a stealthy wink before looking at her younger friend.

"How are you?" She asked in her normal, Natalie way.

"I'm great!" Miles said, he took a bite of his egg salad sandwich and looked at Stephen, who was steadily turning redder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Stephen grunted. Looking at Natalie he pursed his lips. "Would you _excuse_ me? I have things to do."

She could make him stay, he knew it. She could embarrass him in front of Miles, he knew that as well; but he caught sympathy in her eyes and she nodded. "Of course, we'll talk later."

"Did I interrupt something?" Miles asked, suddenly afraid that he had.

"No, of course not," Natalie said, taking a drink of her Coke. "He was leaving anyway."

Stephen walked away grumbling as he did so, catching glimpses from the people sitting several table away from them. He waved and they nodded, smiling at him as he walked by.

* * *

"Are you going to make another expedition into Stephen's office?" Eva asked Natalie, walking into her office without knocking. 

"Not today, no." Natalie said, actually working on a report that Stephen wanted done. Sure, she could just have him do it, but that would be expected, and she wanted him to wonder when she would make him do things, not know.

"Why not?" Eva took a seat and watched Natalie writing.

"I don't want to," Natalie looked at her and smiled, "I've got work to do, Eva. When I am done with it I might go and have a look." Of course, there was no need to go into Stephen's office, she already had what she wanted, but Eva didn't know that. Natalie needed to keep up a front, and that would mean searching Stephen's office and Eva's whim.

"He's been acting strange lately, hasn't he?" Eva grabbed one of Natalie's pens and began clicking it idly. "I wonder what it is, I could find out." Looking at Natalie she frowned, "Do you know?"

"No, I hadn't noticed. He's been acting strange? How?"

"Well, for one thing, he apologized to Miles the other day. Has that happened before?" Eva's eyebrows knitted together.

"Once or twice," Natalie smiled. "An apology is not _strange."_

"He just seems a little, meek."

Natalie laughed, "Meek?"

"Yes, meek. He looks afraid, of something. Would you know what that is?"

For a moment Natalie wondered if Eva might know something. If she had poked around dutifully and had learned what Natalie was doing? No, if she had she would have made it known to Natalie and demand a part in the fun. Eva was as much in the dark about things as everyone else was.

"I do not know. Could you go give these to Miles, I still have to work on this report," Natalie handed Eva two folders and the younger woman nodded before leaving. Frank passed her as he walked in.

"What's going on?" He asked loudly, taking the seat Eva previously sat in.

"I don't know. What is going on?" She asked him in return.

"You are supposed to tell me that. Stephen's afraid of you, why?" He crossed his arms and stared at her.

"Stephen, afraid of me? I'd like to see the day," She mumbled, going back to her writing.

Frank stared at her.

"What?"

"Something's going on," He said darkly.

"Is it?" She asked sweetly, not looking up at him.

"I'll figure it out," He declared, standing up to leave.

Natalie continued to write as he reached her door, "I'm sure you will."

Quite the contrary, she was very sure he wouldn't.

* * *

To be continued 


	5. He Retaliates

**A/N:** I'm skipping foreword a bit in the development. Sorry it took me so long to write this. Marching band has taken over my life, I've had very little time to write.

**Disclaimer: **Can I mail the characters to myself in a poor man's copyright?

Pretty please.

Darn.

Then I guess they aren't mine.

* * *

**He Retaliates**

It was the middle of week three before Stephen allowed his mind to wonder about the possibilities of a permanent solution to his large problem. She'd gotten more daring, and he blamed that on himself mostly. He'd learned the hard way that ordering her to give him every copy of the emails that she had back had only backfired and showed his urgent weakness…a second time.

She struck something in him, though, during a conference, and it triggered a response.

He'd been talking to the team about a past assignment, the Chandlers in Arizona, and gotten riled up. They'd made a mistake, apparently, with the source and he was wound up, his voice raised slightly as he spoke to her.

"You missed something!"

"No-I-"

"Don't argue with me…" Stephen was the only one who saw her press her fingers to her lips before using them to silence him. In that moment when she covered his lips with her forefinger and middle finger he had the silent urge to smile and apply the softest of pressure in return, throw her off track. If she was going to play that game with him, try to frustrate him in front of the others, maybe he'd have to up the antics.

"I'm going to get the case file," was the only thing she said before she pulled her fingers from his lips and brushed past him.

The others, ignorant in her _intimate_ gesture, only responded to the notion of her nerve at silencing him mid-sentence. Miles bustled about with the papers on the lab table as Eva peered, with far too much concentration, at her cell phone and Frank gawked, unabashed, at the sight before him.

"Uh—reports by tomorrow," he spluttered, just managing to send an unsettling look towards Natalie's backside as she walked out. Stephen would have to speak to her later about her display of _affection_ and ask her how she managed her slight of hand with that level of confidence. A wicked train of thought flitted through his mind as the door began closing behind her, maybe he could fight back, "Natalie!" He called.

She reappeared in the doorway, and he was almost sure that the glint in her eyes was mischievous in nature. "Yes, Stephen?" Her voice was unnaturally cool, professional, egging him on in hopes he'd falter.

"Those files you showed me three weeks ago," he waved his hand in mock boredom. "Do you know the ones I'm talking about?"

"I do," there was a dangerous smirk hidden beneath that small, firm smile.

He pressed his fingers to his lips, matching the pressure she had applied earlier and smiled, briefly noticing the wide-eyed wonder on his colleagues face as they watched the conversation unfold. "You might want to read up on them further, learn a few things."

The pink blush that crept up her cheeks didn't go unnoticed, "I've done extensive reading on those records already, Stephen."

"Oh that's right," he sighed as he leaned against the side of the table and folded his arms, "I forgot how interested you were in the findings." His icy eyes smoldered as he watched her gaze shift uncomfortably from him to the others.

She coughed then cleared her throat, "They were certainly...interesting."

When he flashed her a smile her eyes narrowed in confusion. "That's always good," was his only response before turning at acting surprised that the others were still there. "I'll page you if a case develops."

Natalie followed Stephen out of the lab and slammed his office door behind her, placing her hands on her hips when he turned around and raised his eyebrows at her, "What the hell was that?" she asked, not sure whether to sound angry or humored.

He licked his dry lips and gazed at her dauntingly, "You tell me."

The grinding of her teeth was almost audible and he could almost see her blush. Stephen spoke again before she could, "You wanted to play this game." He idly grabbed an envelope from his desk and read the return address, "I'm just giving you some competition.

The laugh that bubbled from her lips made him look up and regard her. Natalie took several steps towards him and pressed her finger to his chest; her eyes dancing on that line between anger and bemusement—he wondered what she was thinking. "Don't push your luck," she smiled innocently.

His fingers locked around her wrist and he stroked the dip of her palm as he pulled her hand away from his chest. There was a subtle warning in her eyes as he eased her back against the edge of his desk and held her there. "I think I should be saying the same to you."

There was an enjoyable moment, as his hand slid to the swell of her hip, when her breath hitched and he pulled her close, his mouth just inches from her ear. "You're lucky as hell they only saw half of your stunt. No more of that," he said as if he were scolding a five year old Jack again for getting into the cookies before dinner.

She could feel his fingers dance across the hem of her shirt and skin, and she tried not to imagine how a simple inch separated their bodies. His hand spread higher and she choked down a gasp. "Sexual harassment," she managed to breathe.

"You're blackmailing me," he hissed, his very own breath tickling her ear and sending a light shiver on a trail down her spine. "An eye for an eye, per say."

He nuzzled the curve her cheek with his nose and she closed her eyes, her shoulders relaxing. The course his venturing hand was on reach just passed her navel before he slid it back to her waist. There had been a strangled moan somewhere between his warm touch and tickling breath that she hadn't managed to conceal and he smiled devilishly, "Oh."

"Shut up," she grated, her hand covering hers on her waist as she tried to remove it.

The vice grip tightened and he pulled her closer, his chest pressed against hers in and infuriating way that made her breath hitch and heart dance on its own accord. "So that's what this entire thing is about," he seemed entirely too pleased with himself. Her reasons for using the emails were finally coming to light. "You have got to be," his lips were so close to hers now that she wondered what fantasy she had fallen into in the last ten minutes and whether slipping out of it would be a problem. "The most," he stressed.

She waited for the second half of his statement but lost interest. Her lips tickled and she wanted very much to lick them but he was so close that if she did…

"The most sexually frustrated woman I know."

He pulled away from her in and instant, his eyes dancing in self-appraisal. Natalie felt her cheeks flush and she imagined what she looked like to him, all frazzled and out of breath. Despite her fluttering heart and remorse that he'd pulled away, she refused to admit that he was right. Let him think that that was what the blackmailing was about.

It was partially true.

"Oh," it came out as a mirthless laugh as she moved closer to him smiling as his eyes grew wider. Her lips were close to his, very close, and she could feel his absence of breathing. A wicked smile played across her features as she thought that this was how she had looked to him, flustered. Her hand crept up his chest and her smile grew dangerous. "Never, _ever_, call me sexually frustrated again," something in her voice told him that the repercussions would be unimaginable if he did.

She winked, licked her dry lips, and a second later was gone.

Stephen breathed and looked at his open door.

_Little minx._

He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled ruefully, wondering who had won that battle. The simple conclusion was that he didn't really quite know.

One thing was for certain, though, that what had just transpired between the two of them was very flustering, dangerous…interesting.

Stephen smiled and hummed as he walked towards his desk.

Very interesting.


End file.
